1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automotive assembly techniques and, more particularly, to a novel method of automatically mounting ready-made headliners into automotive vehicles as an integrated phase of an assembly line operation, i.e. in synchronism with further operations, both preceding and following, performed on the assembly line.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Traditionally, headliners have been mounted to the roof of vehicle cabins by fabrics being sown, tacked, or stapled in relatively tedious methods to staves anchored to the roof of such cabins. Such method, being labor intensive, are disproportionately expensive. Since the labor is performed manually the results are not always uniform and satisfactory. Moreover, such methods have defied integration into automatic assembly line production cycles since as a rule they require assembly intervals which are unpredictable and often exceed the time slot allotted for the assembly operation and thus interfere with the intervals of other operations performed on the assembly line. Therefore, the mounting of headliners was usually performed in operations physically separated from assembly lines.
More recent assembly methods have resorted to mounting ready-made or composite headliners into vehicles by what may be termed a semi-automatic process. Such method would require a workman to utilize manually operated and controlled apparatus with a headliner placed on a mounting jig thereof which is then manually moved into the interior of an automotive body through a window cutout. The jig is provided with handles sufficiently long to permit movement of the headliner into the interior of the body such that its forward margin becomes generally aligned with a predetermined portion of the body, for instance a transom adjacent the windshield cutout. When the headliner has thus been moved into the interior of the body or compartment, the workman, by skilfully manipulating the handles, aligns a clip provided on the headliner with a recess in the transom. The clip is then placed into the recess for properly aligning the headliner relative to the ceiling of the compartment. The headliner, on its surface facing the ceiling, is coated with an adhesive layer. By pressing it against the ceiling the headliner is bonded therewith. The pressure necessary for the adhesive bonding is generated by feet connected to the jig and movable relative thereto by appropriate moving means adapted for engaging the floor of the compartment. Once a firm bond has been established between the ceiling and the headliner the feet of the jig are retracted and the jig is withdrawn from the compartment.
This method of mounting a headliner suffers from the fact that it requires a great deal of manual skill and dexterity on the part of a workman and from the fact that it is not truly adapted for integration into an assembly line operation owing to the unpredictability of the interval required for fully executing the operation. It will be appreciated that the apparatus employed in this method of the mounting is a disadvantageous in that it requires the workman to move in and out of the assembly line between consecutive automotive bodies moving therealong. There would also have to be sufficient space between the bodies to accommodate the workman, the jig with its long handles and the headliner.
Aside from subjecting the workman to considerable safety hazards the apparatus further suffers from the fact that it depends upon the vertical radial strength of the automotive bodies for the exertion of pressure adequate to bring about the bonding of the headliner to the ceiling. To provide such strength otherwise unnecessary reinforcements may have to be mounted to the bodies, particularly in the case of unitized bodies, to avoid ruptures or broken spot welds. The apparatus is at best difficult to operate, not least owing to its substantial size.
Specifically, such a jig requires considerable space in the longitudinal dimension of a vehicle body. That is to say, that part of the jig which supports the headliner must correspond in length more or less to the length of the headliner or the ceiling of the vehicle body, and, to allow the workman to manipulate the operating handles properly and accurately, they have to be about as long as the hood or the trunk of the vehicle, depending upon whether insertion of the headliner into the interior of the body is through the windshield cutout or through the rear window cutout. Given these dimensional requirements, the space required for the withdrawal of the jig subsequent to the mounting of a headliner has to be at least equal to the length of the headliner. However, for economic reasons, in a modern assembly line operation automobile bodies are spaced at intervals closer than that. Thus the method described is practiced either on a branch assembly line or in an auxiliary work station. The difficulties involved in the synchronization of movement of vehicle bodies out of and into an assembly line to accommodate the headliner mounting operation are numerous and may contribute to disruptions in the overall manufacturing process. They also, of course, have a significant adverse effect on manufacturing costs.
One problem inherent in this prior art mounting jig is that the feet for pressing the headliner against the ceiling have to be supported by the floor of the body. As alluded to above, this may result in broken spot welds or deformations of the floor, or both. In turn, such deformations may lead to deviations in tolerances which may result in misaligned headliners, particularly where the recess in the roof transom serves as the sole point of reference for aligning or orienting the headliner. Guide rollers moving along the roof supports of the body during the elevational movement of the headliner may somewhat improve the alignment operation but, in fact, they serve only to move the clip on the headliner into the recess in the transom. Since the operation of feeding and aligning the headliners is essentially a manually executed one, much time is needed for the successful execution of each mounting cycle. The problems are compounded where headliners of differing shapes are to be mounted into bodies of differing styles, for the headliner supports of the jig would have to be changed to accommodate the various headliners.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide for a novel method of mounting headliners in a substantially fully automated manner.
A more particular object of the invention is to provide a method of mounting headliners into vehicular bodies in an operation integrated into an assembly line.
Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide a method of mounting headliners automatically which may be operated in synchronism with an assembly line.
Another object of the invention is to provide a headliner mounting method which avoids relative movement between a headliner and an automotive body moved along an assembly line.
Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a headliner mounting method which may be practiced within the rather restricted space available between vehicular bodies consecutively moving along a modern assembly line.
An important object of the invention is to provide a method of automatically mounting headliners of differing shapes into commensurately differently shaped vehicular bodies.
Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter. The invention accordingly comprises the method and apparatus possessing the elements and combinations thereof, construction and arrangements of parts which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure.